Warrior Academy of Hylia
by Kokiri-Hylian-Hero
Summary: A transfer student whose transport meet with a terrible fate, a school for future knights, a power of the heart, known as Persona, and a secret menace known as the "Shadows". As the team gathers more with the power of Persona, one young man comes to them with a power never before witnessed by Hylian eyes. Rated T as the Shadows draw closer.
1. Welcome to the Academy

Warrior Academy of Hylia

 **Welcome to the Academy**

"Remember." a voice echoed, as myriad others yelled one word, like their lives depended on them, and they did. Somehow he knew they did.

" _Persona!"_

" _Persona!"_

" _Persona!"_

"You will die." the voice continued, as though it were a comfort.

" _Persona!"_

" _Persona!"_

" _Persona!"_

"The remarkable hold the potential...and unlock it." the voice faded, and another emerged behind it.

" _Waking up!" a new voice was saying, "He's waking up."_

 _He opened his eyes and saw a ruined land, unsure of it's previous status before it was destroyed, whether rich or poor, in the end it made no difference, it never did, never would. It was beyond status, it was beyond fixing, he knew that. A snarl behind him shook him, he felt like someone was trying to coax him out of his dreams, and he wanted to follow, but couldn't, he was trapped until he could see what he wanted to see, to see what was left behind, it was blurry, but yellow eyes opened to the darkness and held out its hand, and he barely escaped._

" _What?" another voice asked, as he swam to the surface._

" _I said he's waking up, how many times must a repeat it?" He could see the water shining through the depths, furious red and orange shimmering the light._

" _What's his name?" he broke the surface and gasped for air._

He opened his eyes, startled, taking in deep gulps of air, and looked up to find a rather large man standing across from him, two men stood behind him, watching on. He thought they must have been twins.

"Will you two stop bickering?" the large man turned away from the now silent twins and stepped up to his cot where he sat up and gave him a clipboard, "There you are, we just need you to sign here."

The boy looked at his arm, and shook his head, "Link."

"Your name?" a nod answered him.

"Gaepora Kaebora, the Headmaster of...never mind...you can sign later."

"What am I signing for?" Link asked.

"For school, here at...well, incidents are bound to happen, whether they will for you or not isn't the point, but don't worry, this just says you'll take responsibility for anything you do." the Headmaster replied.

"How did I end up like this?" Link looked at his bandaged arm, he felt as though something had clawed at it earlier.

"An incident...the transport that was carrying you ran into some difficulties, but our special unit is looking into that."

"Special unit...kids like me?"

"No, but we do have a younger group training for those positions, and...if you...have the potential, you could join their ranks, but that is fate and not our decision."

The boy hummed in reply and ended the conversation.

* * *

The following morning the Headmaster rose early for breakfast and found that the other resident of the Kaebora Villa had already woken up, as usual.

"Morning." he grumbled tiredly.

"Sorry, my harp practice didn't keep you up, did it?" asked the brown haired girl, finishing up her breakfast.

"No, I told you I'd be fine, and I am...but I'm not as young as I was," he said, rubbing his forehead, mentally exhausted, "soon another must take my place."

"Hey, you can do it," she replied, watching as he searched through the refrigerator for an apple, "you've got at least another decade before you can retire, you just have to believe in yourself, Father."

"Ha, and I have to stop being lazy." he said, deciding on an orange instead.

"I wasn't going to say anything." Zelda crossed her arms, smiling, "So, how's the boy they pulled from the wreckage?"

"He's better, but...there's something unusual about him."

"What, you don't think-" she stopped and studied the orange peels on the table.

"Well, he seemed tired, dispirited, but I wouldn't expect any less, my only concern is if he figures how out exactly how he got there, and if he does have the power, who knows what will come of it?" his cell phone rang out the beginning of the "Song of the Hero" and he jumped up, cleaned his messy hands, and answered it, "Hmm...this must be Owlan using Horwell's cell...he still writes out whole words when texting!"

Zelda shook her head, a light chuckle shaking her, "Well, he believes spelling matters, no matter what."

"Eventually he may see how useful that text message dictionary I gave him for his birthday is."

"I think he took that gift the wrong way, later he gave you a book called 'Weightless' by Piper, I'm pretty sure she's a chef...I have a few guesses as to what it's for."

"Ha, well, I guess I complained about my weight enough, he decided to do something about it."

"Well, he's still watching Mia for you, so that's a good sign." Zelda noted, watching as her father frowned at the message, "What's wrong?"

"'Upon further inspection of the crashed vehicle in which the boy found last Wednesday was in, it has been determined that the transport was sliced open by a sharp blade, the wounds on the student victim's right arm were inflicted during the cutting of the walls, the other two showed no signs of injury, but were found collapsed in the surrounding area, face down, similar to the other victims found or self reported over the last week.' Horwell wants me to meet him in my office, so you'll have to find Mia and find a place to put her, I would try Horwell's room, but it's probably locked...oh! The boy's going to try attending today, he wants you to show him around."

"Sure, it's probably a good idea if you're right about him," she said getting up from her chair to the door, "for us to establish a first name relationship, at the very least."

"'Gr8, she's on it.'", he smiled, satisfied with the text, then promptly a text containing a lone punctuation mark was received, "It's a question mark...that's a step, at least. Oh, another one, he understands now, he didn't know what 'great' was."

"Hey, where's the little remlit, anyway?" Zelda turned as she stopped in front of the door.

"Probably on the school roof, again...if you leave her in your room, remember to let her out before night, maybe sometime before seventeen hundred hours."

"Oh, right, remlits...fun times." she said, turning back around, trying to make letting Mia out before night her top priority for the day.

* * *

The one time Mia got into the school she was in her room, she recalled that later Karane, a girl whose room was adjacent to her own, said she was glad she asked the brunette to help her make a playlist for the party later that day. Zelda remembered how they thought the strange sounds were the speakers that weren't quite together, but it turned out Mia somehow got in; from where, no one knew.

Just as they were about to bring in Horwell, the resident animal expert, the remlit broke out of Zelda's room and wreaked havoc all through the school, trapping everyone in their rooms until morning, with people fleeing to any room, doors opening to distract the creature for long enough that everyone got to their rooms with nothing that a red potion couldn't fix.

Zelda was so caught up that when she returned to the present, she was standing still, at the edge of the floating island. She took a breath and cleared her atypically cluttered mind, and leapt off the edge with practiced grace, whistled for her loftwing, and got settled before preparing arranging a way to keep her focus on the remlit, this was a serious task that she wasn't accustomed to handling, and after today, she was hiring a professional remlit handler for her father.

She could tell today was going to be interesting with the new kid showing up and her new responsibility for Mia, plus the usual school preparations for the Festival of Time.

As Hylia's Warrior Academy appeared on the horizon, she pushed Mia related thoughts to the side, but not too far off, like the island upon which the school stood, it was on the horizon.

Zelda timed her jump carefully and opened her sailcloth with as much tenacity, guiding her descent towards the roof, a landing she made with great ease, but to her surprise, a blonde haired boy had already gotten to the remlit. He was turned her way and was running too fast to stop before he saw her, she fell back, careful to keep her balance, and sprang back slightly, catching the roof on her way down, while she heard the sound of falling boys and remlits meowing in surprise.

Mia flew down to safety, past Zelda, and licked her paws before settling down for a nap, while Zelda pulled herself back up the ledge, "What, are you crazy, running around with my father's remlit like it's a stuffed doll? You need to be careful!"

"How do you explain dropping out of the sky like that?" he shot back, before sulking away, leaping down to the lower levels with unrefined self confidence, too much, if she was a good judge.

* * *

Link had been having a decidedly terrible week, his life was thrown into chaos in the span of less than a month...he couldn't fix things, but he wasn't just going to sit still, either. Suddenly his cell played a familiar song, he dead panned answered it, and sighed heavily, trying to control his tone, "Yes?"

"Hey, Link, are you here now? I'm at the sparring hall, so you should definitely drop by!" the chirpy voice at the end could almost wring a smile from him, but not quite, "Anyway, if you're not here yet, then I can always slack off on my combat forms for a while."

"Ha, I doubt it, you always were the responsible one, even if there was no need for it. Remember that time my grandma got sick, and you ran out during the worst of the thunderstorm just for a can of soup?"

"Ha, ha, I was pretty stupid, huh? Turns out, she had plenty of soup in the fridge just in case she got sick...but that first part's not true," she said quietly, and he thought her voice would become inaudible, "you're my best friend, and all the stupid, responsible things I did, I did because I didn't want you to have to, even when you had to come to my rescue with the umbrella, I still felt like...I don't know, like I did something that, in the end, helped you."

"I didn't know that...look, I just feel like being stupid today, I think I might just go back home tomorrow."

"You know, sometimes I felt like you did ridiculously dangerous things for fun, but now I realize, you did it for attention, didn't you?"

"Huh? How should I know, I was a kid, kids do stupid things all the time."

"True, but I mean...like you wanted to be special? I think that's what made doing the stupid things that I did that made more work for you fun, it was an adventure, something I could come back from, proud of myself for all the reasons there were. You wanted an adventure, too, which is why you climbed up trees, why you found outrageous ways to get your chores done...you'd climb up a tree and throw your Retro Bike collection down into the box below, while you stood on the edge of a limb...putting your toys away was boring otherwise, and same with my doll collection that Mido hid everywhere, you found crazy ways to get things done."

"It felt like I was cool." he said, remembering how she said she could slack off her sword training, and realized she was probably doing that already.

"But you were cool, because of what you did, not the way you did it."

"Thanks...uh, why are you telling me this, though?"

A pause followed, and behind him he heard a plastic clap as the call ended, and he stared at the ground, and exhaled quickly, "Saria?"

"I heard...I couldn't just talk to you over the phone." Saria said, a somber expression that said everything before she spoke quietly sat on face, "So, how are you doing?"

He remembered the call he got in the hospital, how the transport blocked he signal earlier, that was hours before he woke up to two guys arguing and a headmaster with a clipboard. Link stared blankly before furiously crushing the earth under his foot, "I never heard her so torn up! Why'd it have to be her parents, why couldn't it have just been me?!"

"Link-"

"I—I can't believe...on the other side of the line, it was her," he clutched his shirt against his chest, "it was Aryll, it was horrible."

"You could go back for a while." she cautiously stepped up to him, but he quickly dropped his hands back to his side.

"We talked a bit, it was strange, holding a phone in my left hand, laying there, like a corpse, I could never worry her or Grandma, I do want to go home, but I've heard that they might be coming to visit, I'll see what they're going to do first."

"It'll be good for them to get away from there but will they have rooms?"

"I...I don't know, I didn't think about it, but there's not a lot of inns here, huh?"

"I know a place called the Lumpy Pumpkin, it's not too far if you fly fast, and strangely enough, loftwings seem to find those without one."

"That sounds alright, I guess...you should go back, now."

"Um, alright." she took a few steps towards the sparing hall when Link spoke again.

"Thanks for checking up on me."

"You'd have done the same." she said, turning around to walk backwards, waving before turning back to run towards the training facility.

* * *

Link decided that since he probably missed classes, he'd stroll through the bazaar, where he met many people, all with varying degrees of quirkiness particular to them and them alone.

Gondo, a man who's stall seemed a bit short for his height, he was working on strengthening a yellow garbed knight's shield, the young man seemed impressed with the shield's upgrade; Luv and Bertie, she ran the stalls, while he held their baby and mixed a large cauldron, probably of potion, considering that was what they offered; Sparrot, a strangely quiet man who offered to see the future of the passerby; Rupin, an antsy man who looked like he had way too much coffee, and was exposed to upbeat music only he could hear; and then there was Peatrice, who was laying on the table when he saw her.

The girl who yelled at him earlier was crouched, searching for something on the floor, when Peatrice looked down at her, seemingly annoyed, "It's fine—Zelda, can you please take your remlit back, now, she's playing with me shoelaces...ugh, she's _biting_ my shoelaces!"

"Sorry, I can't find your pen, maybe it's on your side of the desk?" the other girl stood up looked under another desk across the way.

"Look, I don't mind, I'll just ask everyone to bring their own from now on...ugh, an item check who can't keep up with her own items," Peatrice held her hand to her head but looked up intently at Link, who didn't notice, "how embarrassing...but it was almost out of ink anyway, it's just as well."

"Are you sure?" Zelda came back and followed Peatrice's slightly annoyed gaze behind the counter.

"Anything's better than explaining to my dad that his _favorite_ animal ever had my shoes for dinner...which could probably happen." Peatrice ducked under the counter and came back up with a small, short haired animal that was so adorable, that Link couldn't help be entranced by it, then it meowed, making everyone present smile, and anyone within earshot turned, laughing, to see the big eared creature who seemed to like being carried.

"So, what about you, uh, you, have any items you want me to hold onto?" Peatrice turned to him and stared intently at him, but he shook his head, "Oh, well, if that ever changes, I'll be right here."

"Uh, how many remlits are there, in the city?" Link asked, wondering if that was the same remlit.

"Not many, this is Mia, hey, Zelda, didn't you say some idiot ran into you, or something?"

"Uh, I didn't use those words." Zelda said, giving him an apologetic smile.

"Well, I say he's an idiot, items get broken all the time through negligence, I've seen bottles, sometimes with high quality potions in them...smashed, in a heartbeat it could all be over." Peatrice lectured animatedly when Zelda laughed awkwardly.

"But he was actually doing a favor for Horwell, I mean, I was scared for Mia, but I didn't mean to get off on the wrong foot like that." Zelda shrugged, "Besides, Father once tripped over something, she went up, and then flew down, instead of falling."

"Hey, wait, what?" Peatrice looked between the two as Zelda made the decision to march up to him and offer Mia to the new student.

"Zelda, it's nice to meet you." she said, extending the loudly purring remlit.

"Link..sorry for running into you like that." the remlit meowed quietly as he accepted her.

"It's fine, I _did_ drop in behind you." Zelda pointed out, as Peatrice dazedly watched.

"It's fine...I'm going to go find my room now." Link held Mia back out to her, and turned around after Zelda took her back.

"You're one of the new students, right?" Link turned around to find her watching him.

"Yeah, I was told to meet with the Headmaster's daughter." he explained, "She wasn't here, I guess she would be at the school though."

"Huh, well...how's you arm?" Zelda inquired, noticing that he didn't have a cast or any sort of bandages, and if he hadn't said anything, she might not have known it was him she was to show around.

"Huh? It's better now, thanks—wait, how did you know?!" Link looked at his arm, which showed no signs of being sliced, but the other victims had no injuries at all, from what he heard on the on the news from the hospital's television. Maybe he just took longer to heal, or they were cut first, but then, why'd the monster's go around cutting people?

"Father told me about you, Horwell wanted me to help you get settled in."

"But I'm fine, why'd he ask you, what would happen if he asked you to help everyone who got a little roughed up on the way?"

"'Roughed up' isn't a strong enough word for it, Horwell told Father, and I see his concern." she shook her head dismissively, "Besides, it's just you I'm showing around, tomorrow I'm back to my regularly scheduled party planning, but it's actually better this way, remlits go crazy at night, and it's best to not have a project I can get too involved in, zoning out isn't the best way to make sure she gets out before nightfall."

"Ha, ha, since you're so insistent, then, lead the way." Link said, wandering after her, stopping to talk to people every so often.

* * *

Link followed her until she stopped at a bridge, where Zelda pointed to two doors, she explained the one below them first, "See there and there, that one at the bottom is locked at night, the other one is open at night, they're both open during the day, though, so don't worry about that." Zelda saw him turn towards the sparring halls, "That's a pretty straightforward facility, the instructor can explain everything when you show up. Umm, you're not anxious about having to use a sword, are you? You'll probably not even have to draw a blade against a human."

"It's not that, I just have a friend here whose training now." Link explained.

"That's great, maybe you can get an idea of the basics before tomorrow." she sat Mia down and started towards the main building, "We should go in, before it gets too late, wait, what am I thinking; you go ahead, I'll set Mia further away."

"You seem concerned." Link recalled that she mentioned something about remlits going crazy, but she wasn't clear on any dangers.

"It's dangerous for remlits to be this close to the school, at night their appearance darken, like monsters, they look like something out of a nightmare, and if you have the displeasure of meeting one during the night, they'll attack you."

"I have pretty good night vision, I often take walks...took walks, back home," Link tried not to remember the call from Aryll, that she said the village was destroyed, "uh, I could find somewhere to put her."

"So much confidence from the new kid dealing with a dangerous animal," she said, smirking as she started off, "but if you've seen what I've seen, you'd know better."

"I do owe you for knocking you off the roof," Link really needed to clear his head, now more than ever, he needed this walk, "besides, all I need to do is set her somewhere, right?"

"Tell you what, you still have some time before the sun sets, hurry back and you should be fine." she held Mia out so the remlit could see him, and meowed as Zelda left her with the new boy. Link nodded and turned away, facing the lake, and set off to find a place to leave her,. Zelda watched him curiously, something told her this wasn't for the roof, "There's definitely something interesting about him."

"Alright, Mia, you can't keep following me." Link said, picking the remlit back up and setting her down near the lake, then backed away, the remlit watching him curiously and trailing him, skipping every so often in a manner reminiscent of squirrels, "Mia, look-" Link looked beyond the lake and determined that he'd have enough time to run around the lake and leave the remlit there.

* * *

"Hello, Zelda, what brings you out here this evening?" a young man wearing a yellow uniform greeted her as she stepped outside; night was already fast approaching, she worried what may have happened to Link.

"You've got clearance to fly around at night, right?" he'd been in the ranks of seniors for a while now, it seemed like he should have clearance, though there were always exceptions.

"Uh, yes, but why-" Pipit began, wondering if there were supplies that still needed to be gathered for the upcoming festival.

"Link went to the lake to leave Mia for the night, but hasn't come back yet, and it really doesn't take long, she doesn't follow anyone far...remlits don't really put much effort into following anything that's not edible." she pointed out where Link was last, "Pipit, could you go check up on him for me? I would, but I don't have proper clearance...and the lake pour out onto the surface, he could fall below,."

"I understand, I'll get Link back here for you." Pipit promised, and clambered up a wall, ran across the yard, and leapt off the edge, out of view until he rose with his loftwing.

She watched on, relieved that one of the most reliable people she knew was on the search, then took up the patrol route that Pipit always followed, faithfully every night for the last year since he became a senior. As she walked she found that she jumped at the bushes rustling in the wind, she was glad such dutiful service was rewarded with even the small sum that Pipit had been given, not just because it could turn into a dangerous job, but because he spent time away from his mom in the process, and he didn't have a room in the dorm even though he was on the special project, wanting instead to defend the residential area.

* * *

After walking around once, she began to worry, then heard something in front of her, and cautiously stepped forward, her eyes giving off a faint bluish glow, then rounded the corner and found Karane staring at the ground, "Look, I just want to get this over with, I really, really admire you, I want to...I-I want to be your girl—Zelda?!" she jumped back, scowling as the bright red on her face faded, "Zelda, you're here and not Pipit, what's up with that?!"

"Uh...you I see you haven't told him yet." Zelda said, giving her friend a sad smile, "Sorry, I sent him after Link...but good for you, next time you'll probably find it easier to tell him, plus you might work up the courage sooner...though it probably would have been better if he'd been here."

"Ugh, and I thought so hard about what I was going to say and everything...so annoying...this is so annoying!" Karane stared at the sky and took a deep breath, "It's bad enough I had to worry what to say to him over dinner, but now I'll be losing sleep over not coming out here sooner!"

"Sounds tough, how long have you been crushing on him? A couple of months now?" Zelda honestly stopped counting after the first couple of weeks.

"I know, at this rate someone else will get him, but I can't just go out there and make an idiot out of myself!" Karane thought about that, then amended it, "Okay, actually I can, but not this often! He probably likes someone else—oh, wait...no, Zelda, he doesn't...seem to like you, does he?"

"Not at all, but if he does, he's certainly good at hiding it, or just very bad at expressing himself, hey-"

"I bet he does, too, that'd be my luck!" Karane watched from the loftwing that still hadn't returned yet and sighed, "At least I know you'd tell me if you thought something was up...if you think he likes anybody here at all, you have to tell me!"

"I know, I know, you'll be the first to know! After me, that is." Zelda was about to recommend a yoga club, but decided against it.

* * *

"No, she wouldn't like that poem, either," Pipit mused, looking down below, where someone near the lake fell in after being hit by a remlit, "man, I guess I'll have to worry about Karane later!"

Pipit watched the young man swim away from the remlit, to the other side of the shore, but he was steadily moving downstream, and started struggling, flailing his arms as he went over the fall.

"Pipit to the rescue!" he called out to the person as he dove down and caught him with his loftwing, "Hang on to his feathers, citizen, this is where it gets—huh?"

Link had also noticed that the clouds in front of the fiery sun turned from vibrant orange, to purple, gray, and then black, the clouds were racing along to the fliers, and he watched in awe as the darkness raced under them, not realizing that Pipit had started flying towards the ground.

Pipit maneuvered under the dazed Link, and motioned to his loftwing to slam his wings down, disturbing the clouds under them as it bounced the humans, one who held the other, less accustomed down, to prevent him from falling off altogether. After offering brief thanks to Hylia, he flew them over the land and landed the giant bird, who flew away after the two dismounted.

"Let's get out of here, man! I'll race you back, but don't look back, whatever you do!" Pipit started following, but smiled as he gave the back of Link a two finger salute, "I hope Headmaster Kaebora is right, about you...would've been nice to test that theory, but someone has to hold these things off for a while."

Pipit Turned around and watched with a tenacious grin as a horde of monsters formed from the updrafts of black cloud, "Hey, come at me, foe!" Pipit shouted, catching the remlit out of the corner of his eyes as it coward at the sight of his glowing green eyes. The horde flew at him as requested, falling into the form of winged monsters as he folded his arms over his chest, and shouted loud and clear, "I need you, Achilles!"

Suddenly a giant spear wielding figure appeared behind Pipit, and swiped his spear at them, sending them aside before crushing them in his free hand.

* * *

Link turned, laughing as he reached the gate, "I thought you'd catch up, but-" he saw no one behind him and faced Zelda and Karane as they opened the gate.

"Link, what's going on?" Zelda asked, walking pass him, "Where's Pipit?"

"He said he'd race me back." Link looked away and wondered at the stream of darkness that he'd seen below them earlier, "Does the dark cloud stuff happen often?"

"I'm going to have to leave that unanswered." she said, running to Pipit's side.

"You should get back inside, I'll see if someone wants to go with me to see what the other two are doing." Link followed the girl with the green beret and she pointed at a line of doors to the left, a key perched at the end of her finger, "You'll need this to get into your room, all of them have their owner's names, yours might not, though, so if you only see a blank nameplate and the key works, it's yours."

"Thanks, uh?" Link winced, realizing he hadn't been introduced yet.

"Karane." she nodded, then pointed at the hall one last time before going right, to the stairs

"Karane, good luck with whatever it is." Link turned and held his hand up by way of parting as he headed for the stairs.

Link saw one door along a line that didn't have a nameplate, so pushed the key against the slot, pushing the door open to find a student with greenish hair and a small frame struggling to life weights that didn't look very large at all.

Immediately the student noticed Link and jumped slightly, dropping the weights on either side of him, "Ah, what're you doing here?!" Link turned away as the other grabbed the shirt behind him.

"Sorry! The door was unlocked." Link shrugged, then looked at his key, before reaching for the doorknob, "Wrong unmarked door."

"Uh, hey, hang on!" Fledge slammed himself against the wall and pointed at Link, "I'm Fledge...and bashful, but mostly Fledge."

"I'm Link...a little sleepy, too, so I'll just go to my room, now." Link backed out of the room and Fledge waved.

"Later, Link, goodnight."

"Night, Fledge."

* * *

Link finally found his room and locked the door, leaned against the door, contemplated standing there the rest of the strange night, but searched through the bag in his room, and managed to get his stuff put away before falling onto the bed fulling clothed and stared at a text from Saria, "Uh, I forgot after practice I have some extracurricular (I was surprised too, but looks like they don't let stupid people bash things...my kind of luck, eh?!) stuff to do, so if I ignore you tomorrow, it's me being tired...though I'll probably be fully awake after breakfast...I guess you don't have to worry about running into a no nonsense Saria, huh? Well, later!"

"Yeah, I'm just going to sleep in. What kind of extracurricular stuff? Does it involve the training; huh, probably they'll have you run around an obstacle course."

He sent the message, and fell asleep where he was.

 **Author's Notes: So, it's pretty obvious that there won't be television worlds or the Dark Hour...you can tell, I hope, that I have something different in mind...just bear with me.**

 **Shout-out time! Thanks a lot to** **GameLord The Hitman for chatting with me about this stuff, he's encouraged me a good deal, especially with that list and those Persona assignments, it's very reassuring to know someone else thinks an idea will work!**

 **I hope you like this story as much as I do, whoever's reading this now!**

 **KHH OUT! Ahem, I'll go over here now.**


	2. The Shadow Storm

**The Shadow Storm**

Karane looked for the new girl's room and found that, in green crayon, the name "Saria" was drawn onto a note, which had been stuck to the gold, empty nameplate.

"Knock, knock!" Karane called through the door, answered by Saria, "Time to see what you can do, Saria!"

"Huh? Oh, right, that, let's go." Saria said, sleepily following Karane outside. The older girl opened the gate and motioned for her to pass, then followed and let it shut behind them, the sound of the locking mechanism startled the forest girl.

"That gate's opened from this side, so either Pipit or Zelda will have to let us back in after we're done here, since I'm supposed to watch out for you and neither of us are authorized for night flying, okay?" Karane turned back to find the green haired girl nod and yawn, "Ugh, but you're so tired, I feel really bad for dragging you out this late, but trust me, you get used to walking around half unconscious. Come on!"

Saria groaned as she tried to keep up with the senior, and eventually she saw something that she thought must be a hallucination induced by mental exhaustion, "Um, I'm seeing things?"

"Nope...take this." Karane handed the shorter girl a slingshot and started off in the direction of Pipit and Zelda, who were doing well holding the monsters off, "I hear you're quite proficient with that thing, let's see what you've got!"

Pipit turned grinning to see the girls running up to join the battle, "You sure she's ready for this?"

"I'm pretty sure she can watch and shoot, right? It's said only those with this power can fight Shadows, so lets see if she will ever awaken to her Persona...it's trial by fire, but I'll keep an eye on her, you two just care of these chuchus!"

"Chu...chu?" Saria looked around, confused as slimy monsters bubbled out of the ground.

"Yeah, these guys are all over the place, we can't let them get to the houses, because they'll break in and hurt people, so we have knights watching the corners of Skyloft day and night, and they can't get into the academy, so it's fine." Pipit explained as he took out a monster with his lance.

"Why can't they get in?" the forest girl inquired, and just before Pipit answered, a monster grabbed him.

"Ah!" he struggled with the monster before finally escaping it's hold and falling backwards for a short time, scrambling just before two more jumped at him, "That's how to escape! Now, you asked a question, Saria? The gates outside of the academy grounds are impossible for Shadows to get through, and there's only a small chance of the Shadows forming on the school grounds, but that's a risk we can't avoid."

"But you patrol to make sure things are safe." Karane said admiringly, "No Shadows will get to the school with you on the job."

"That's good." Saria said, then found herself surrounded by chuchus, "Uh, not good, Karane, we're surrounded!"

Karane yelled, eyes burning a furious sky blue, "Kaihime, help me!"

A giant woman appeared before her and drew her bow, upon release, a flurry of arrows rained down upon the blue globs. Karane gasped as the chuchus moved away from the arrows that seemingly held them down.

"What...but this can't be happening!" Saria screamed, her attacks absorbed by the chuchus as they closed in on them.

"Benzaiten!" Zelda shouted, sending a wild dancing woman towards them, stabbing frantically at the chuchus, to no avail. As Karane's eyes began glowing, the chuchus started fusing and getting closer, "Karane, you'll never get Kaihime in time, get out of there!"

"Get her!" Saria cried out, shoving Karane stumbling towards Pipit, who pulled her away from the Shadow's landing spot.

"Pipit!" Karane turned to see Saria stuck in the monster, struggling frantically to propel herself to the edge of the Shadow.

"Guys, wait a minute, usually the little guys can't be hurt by my Persona's spear attack," Pipit yelled, "they're usually hurt by powers or slash attacks!"

"Would've been nice to know that sooner!" Karane sent her Persona out again, this time with a longsword, "Give it to them, Kaihime!"

The giant Persona dashed up to the monster and swung her blade through it, separating the mass of goo horizontally before it fell back down with a splat.

"What...is this thing invincible?!" Pipit yelled.

"I thought you were a pro with this monster!" Zelda thought about what attack to use, but any magic might hurt Saria, if they didn't hurry, though, she wouldn't make it anyways, "Never mind, let's just rush them!"

"Guys, I think she's pretty weak right now!" Karane yelled, turning to Zelda, "She could use some help."

"Right, Benzaiten, heal her!" her Persona appeared and held her hands out at Saria, and a blue light flew from her hand and through the monster, Zelda was sure it had an effect when Saria lifted her head, "Let's wrap this up!"

"I'm certainly psyched for an all out attack!" Pipit shouted as they charged at the monster, cutting vertical and diagonal lines through the gelatinous monster, Saria ran to the sidelines and watched on.

* * *

Dejected the forest girl through the slingshot down and ran back to the academy gates.

* * *

Link woke up and found that he'd only fallen asleep a few hours ago. He pulled himself out of bed and tried the door and remembered that one of them, probably the other, was still open, but why, he couldn't say, then thought better to go outside anyway, a new wave of exhaustion hitting him, his eyes moving by themselves, and stumbled back to his room, falling face forward on his bed and listening to the quiet around him, then he heard footsteps like a child running on the floor above him, and a door opening before slamming. He got up and opened his door, ran up the stairs and found Pipit, Karane, and Zelda outside an unmarked door.

Karane was the first to register his presence, and when she did she nudged Pipit's shoulder and pointed at Link. Pipit held his hand out and patted Link's shoulder briskly, "Let's go." he said in low tones that made Link worry while Zelda asked whoever was on the other side to open the door.

Link only heard her say one thing clearly, "You didn't fail, please, let's talk about this." before he was taken back to the male hallway.

"So that was an unexpected turn in our routine, but everything's fine, we just need to keep learning and keep getting stronger...everything went well today, everyone worked excellently today, some self confidence has been shaken, though...our newest member just needs a pep talk, and find some perseverance, in a while she may decide to go back out there." Pipit nodded and turned back around, when Link grabbed his arm.

"Saria was out today...that's who you mean, isn't it?" Link looked up intensely at the older student.

"Yes, but you'd want an explanation anyways, right?" Pipit watched the new kid drop his hand and eyes, "What I thought, I'll see you in class tomorrow, then teach you some sword skills in the Sparring Hall, so get some rest."

* * *

"Saria," the green haired girl looked away from the door, trying to figure out why she couldn't summon anything more than a scream for help as keese flew in, squeaking and biting and flapping their wings, "you can try again later, even we can't summon easily. I'll leave, but I want to talk about this."

"No, it's my fault, I was supposed to watch out for her," Karane sounded like she felt guilty, and Saria held her hand up to her forehead, frustrated as Karane turned her voice to the door, "look, I'll send Zelda away and we can talk, alright?"

Saria marched up to the door and unlocked it, walking away shortly after.

"I guess I should go now." Zelda remarked, and with what Saria was her going back to her room, a door opened and closed, then Karane let the door open, no one behind her, Saria noticed.

"Rough day, huh?" Karane almost whispered, closing the door behind her, "It's not easy, we're just used to-"

Saria patted a spot next to her on the bed and Karane quietly obeyed, "I'm not cut out for this." she tried to keep her composure, but her throat sounded and felt like she was being choked as she threw the gloves she had worn to the ground.

"That's unconfirmed, you-"

"I shot at least one of those things five times, Karane, five!" Saria yelled burying her face in her hands, "I'm no used to the team!"

"There's no reason to be upset if that's true," Karane said, patting Saria's back, "but you didn't shot the keese, the chuchus are immune to stab attacks, bigger chuchus are immune to horizontal slash attacks...probably bash attacks, too...we'll see if your Persona has magic skills, wouldn't that be a great surprise?"

Saria held onto Karane, trying to believe she had a future in the team, and to stop crying so hard, but both circumstances existed because of her doubt, "Please don't say 'if', I don't have one at all."

"I-I understand, I got your hopes up, I wasn't professional, I was so ready to have another ally that I didn't see any of this happening, but you don't know...I believe...never mind, I might be very wrong." Karane sighed and remained still until a questioning stare found her, "I apologize for tonight, I should have remained professional, this was an experiment...but you didn't turn into a shade, so that's what made me so thrilled, after the Shadow Storm came in on the twilight, I was half expecting you to be unable to answer the door, and wake in the morning, unaware of your inability."

"I believe you," Saria said, finding herself suddenly calm, "please, ask for them to let me follow you guys some more, I promise that next time I'll try harder, I'll summon my Persona I won't use my slingshot until I do...give me another night of battles, I'll do it."

"Don't get too hopeful." Karane said cautiously, standing up, "Maybe after a several nights of not summoning you'll get used to it, you can still be helpful, never forget that, Persona or not. And try hitting a keese next time, I'm sure you'll beat it, you don't transform during the Shadow Storm, that's a rare thing, most often followed by a Persona."

"Thanks...tell the others I'm grateful they didn't give up on me." Saria said, walking to the door, "You're probably tired, so thanks for taking time to...cheer me up."

"No problem, we're a team, I know that one day, Persona or not, we'll be the best team ever!" she walked across the hall and waved before disappearing into her room.

* * *

"How did the talk go?" Karane heard Zelda on the other side and shrugged, forgetting she couldn't see that.

"It went well, she wants to try again." Karane smiled, she couldn't deny that she felt accomplished, but she also felt more confident about the next time.

"That's great, but we may not get another Storm in for a couple of days." Zelda said, "At least it's not everyday, huh?"

"Yeah, but then we might be better at this."

"I'd rather slowly get stronger than risk being killed...our party is still pretty small, and if it does get any bigger, we still need a leader, someone suited to go in, and lead us."

"I thought that was you, though." Karane pointed out, "Pipit worries me sometimes, like he's too ready to fight, and I'm not sure about myself, I don't think leadership is for me, maybe too much responsibility rides on those kinds of shoulders, but you're calm and smart, you're our best choice."

"How much do you bet it'll stay that way?" Zelda challenged.

"Oh, if I were a gambling girl, I'd set forty rupees to it."

"If I were in a bet, I'd tell you to have that forty set aside, before the year ends, that'd be mine."

"Oh, well, it'll be fun to see what happens...but I'm not putting money on it, just so you know."

"Me neither, but I am going to bed now."

"Yeah, it's been a long night."

* * *

Link heard someone knocking on the door to his room and slowly dragged himself out of bed and forced himself across to the door, where he found Saria with a gold nameplate in her hand and a smile on her face, "Come on, Link, I'm going to put the nameplate on now."

"You're just now getting one?" Link asked groggily.

"Yep, I still haven't got my bird yet, or—well, anything I didn't arrive with, uh, I suppose you know about last night?" she asked warily.

"Yeah, Pipit said everyone did great...but you were there, you didn't believe that, did you?"

"No, it's tough when things don't go according to plan." she faced the door and handed the nameplate to him, "For some reason you got taller when we left the forest, I'm still short."

"I was wondering about that too, the rules were if we left the forest we died, but for some reason neither of us died...I guess that was a guarantee, though, we were connected to the forest, now we're apart from it. The connection was broken, we were on our own."

"That's sad but you're probably right." Saria looked up at him, "I'll see you in class, right?"

"Yeah, I have to have sword practice, they don't want dunderheads swinging around sharp, pointed objects."

"Ha, ha, yeah, that'd be bad, wouldn't it?"

"Yeah, I guess."

"Hey, hey, Link!" Link turned to find Fledge smiling and waving, from behind the kitchen counter and went over to him.

"Hey, Fledge, right?" Link watched as Fledge nodded enthusiastically, then went on, "So...what do you do around here for fun?"

"Uh, mostly I just chill."

"Oh, that's cool, did you have anything planned today?"

"Uh, well, there's crafting, but it's mandatory," Fledge remarked, "honestly, I just wanted someone to talk to at lunch and stuff, you know? I'll just make something up along the way."

"Alright, I'll just see what's out for breakfast." Link sat down at the table and who he took to be the chef shook her ladle at him.

"We stopped serving breakfast a quarter hour ago, you're going to have to wait until lunch!"

"Nice to meet you too." Link said, getting up and walking to the classroom.

* * *

Link didn't know who was kicking his chair, but it had to stop before he snapped. Turning he found a larger man with hair that went up, like a match that'd been lit, the orange hair being the fire, though the owner of said pompadour was anything but skinny like a match, his shoulders were large, and so were his arms, the hair struck Link as silly, like a lamp in a field, but ignored that in favor of a more important matter, "Will you stop kicking my seat?"

"Let me consider that...no, I won't." the other replied, then leaned forward and rattled Link's chair, "What are you going to do about it?"

"It was just a question." Link turned around and resigned to endure the chair shaking for the rest of the history lesson. He didn't learn much because he was distracted.

"Alright, class dismissed!" the teacher said, leaving the students to their own devices as he ran out for a coffee break.

"Groose, a word with you before you go," Zelda said, getting up from her chair, "first I want to know what Link here has done, and then I want to discuss your plans for after school."

"Why, because you want a date?" Groose asked, running his hand over his tall hair.

"No, because you will have no plans other than those assigned to you." Zelda corrected, "Now, what did Link do?"

"Uh, he-"

"Well?!"

"I—he took my good pen, it was red and gold, my father gave it to me for luck." Groose felt smart for thinking fast, but Zelda looked unimpressed.

"Link, is this true?" she asked calmly, turning slightly to see him.

"No, I don't have anyone's pen," Link replied, "just the one that was given to me by the teacher."

"May I search your desk?" Zelda asked, watching Groose slightly cringe.

"W-wait, you know what, he dropped it earlier, right before I stopped kicking his chair, so someone else must have got it, I need to hurry up and search for it!" Groose jumped up and ran out of the room as quickly as he could, while Zelda turned back to Link.

"He does this to all the new kids, I'll track him down later and give him his assignment." Zelda crossed her arms and handed him a notebook, "I wrote down what the teacher said, you should have an easier time understanding what happened now."

"Thanks," Link picked up the notebook that he found in his desk, "you know, I really tried to take notes."

"It's easier when your chair's sitting still." Zelda remarked, "Oh, and Pipit will want to see you in the Sparring Hall, so don't forget to stop by there later."

"Yeah, but when are we supposed to do that?"

"Right after lunch."

"Oh, good, I'm starving!" Link's stomach loudly agreed, followed by a cringe.

"You alright there?" Zelda asked, startled by his expression.

"Yeah, that lunch lady didn't have breakfast out, said I needed to wait for lunch." Link followed Zelda, hoping she was going to the kitchen.

"Oh, Henya, she likes things to be clockwork, you could say, I remember once after staying up pretty late, I missed breakfast as well." she stopped at the entrance and gestured for him to go ahead.

"You're not eating?"

"Oh, I am, I'm going with some friends to the Lumpy Pumpkin, you'll have to visit sometime, it's far to the east, past an island with giant...bamboo stalks growing from it, it's all very interesting, you should explore the sky when you have a chance." Zelda said, running up the stairs and to the end of the hall, where she met Pipit, Karane, and Horwell, "A-ah, sir, what brings you up here, has something happened?"

"No, I'm merely here to check up on the newest member of the team, and any updates on your strange dreams." he scratched the back of his head, "They've been startling accurate these days, whatever you say always comes to pass."

"I'll explain it on the way." Zelda said, heading for the door.

* * *

After ordering their meals, the group sat down at a table on the second floor of the eatery, "You told us you'd fill us in on your latest dream." Horwell pointed out.

"I'm trying to think...where do I start? In my dream I was on the clock tower, then in the sky, above me a green beacon appeared, and the mask that fell down...it was...hard to explain, it seemed plain, but it seemed to also stand out, I've never seen one like it, looking up, it was hopeful, down, it was...searching, but ahead, it was fierce...it was the most wonderful mask I've ever seen, and then it...did it change form? I remember it was like one of those dolls, it exploded and confetti shot out of it, then it changed again, yet it never grew smaller, no matter how many masks there were." Zelda laughed, "I rather liked it, though, the festival was beautiful, I felt like everything was perfect...even the rain didn't detract much from the overall happiness in the festival, but it may have been a wild dream...but that does give me ideas for a mask design...but I don't want to make my dream come true, that—I might not be ready for that dream to become reality."

"Was that everything, though?" Karane inquired, "When you woke up—loudly—you told me that you're dream got really weird, that Link was involved."

"Link," Pipit squinted, "hey, wasn't that the new kid's name? I saw it on the roster, I think!"

"That's the one." Karane confirmed, "Zelda, what happened in your dream concerning the new kid?"

"I saw...I think, I don't know...take this with a grain of doubt, but Link...in my dream, was carrying a bag on the end of a stick, over his shoulder...and a dog was following him." Zelda turned away as sounds of disbelief fell into the wind, "I can't believe it either, either he's planning on running away or-"

"We mustn't get our hopes up," Horwell said calmly, "there may be more we don't know."

"Yes, but if it is true, then shouldn't we bring him out next time?" Karane asked.

"No, it...it's still too soon." Pipit shook his head, "Let him get settled first...besides, Zelda, weren't you just telling me that the next Shadow Storm wasn't for a while now?"

"Yes, it won't be for at least until after the day of the Harvest Festival." Zelda nodded, "Plenty of time to rot our teeth out on the best candy in Skyloft, all night until the sun goes down! For the second time, I mean, it's two days of candies, what more do you want?!"

"Uh-huh, and it's not until the tower opens, right? Pipit, we should totally check out the view there, when we get a chance!" Karane said, her heart rate suddenly increasing.

"Ha, ha, sure...I actually have some things up there to accomplish, myself...oh, it's a full moon then, too, huh? I should bring my pictograph, I hear that the brand Pictograph has sales about this time every year!" Pipit couldn't wait, he planned on asking her out as soon as they were up the stairs, and all by itself, his pulse picked up.

"Well, there's still a couple days until then." Zelda said, then turned to Horwell, "What do you suggest we do in the meantime?"

"I don't know, but I must tell my brother and the Headmaster when we return...you may remain here, but I must go back now." Horwell stood up and took his jar of orange liquid back with him, "I'll pay for another order of pumpkin soup for you if you want seconds, you should all take it easy, you're all very tired, it's too obvious and pains me to see."

"Thank you," Zelda said, setting her half filled bottle back down to wipe her mouth, "you don't have to worry so much, though, we only had minimum trouble at first, though I admit, that hurt morale a lot."

"I know, but it's the least I can do," Horwell asserted, "there are days a wake up and realize that I never know when I'll go outside and find a ghost town."

"Don't worry, nothing will happen as long as I live!" Pipit said, standing up and holding his bottle to the center of the table, "Toast, to the greatest defenders of Hyrule! And to us, the future protectors of our home!"

Karane happily nicked her bottle against his with a large grin stuck on her face, and Zelda, slightly amused, nodded and held her's out, tapping against the other two bottles before finishing off the rest of her lunch.

 **Author's Notes: So, you guys can tell the action's about to start, right? This is where things should prove interesting, let's see what happens next time!**


	3. End of the First Day

End of the First Day

Link looked up as the doors opened and found his green haired friend dancing into the room, snapping her fingers to whatever was playing, "Hey." he called out to her, startling her.

"Oh, Link, what's up?" Saria asked, pressing the off button on her music player.

"Just waiting on Pipit, he's supposed to show me a few things about fighting with a sword." Link leaned back against the wall and folded his arms, "What brings you here, Saria?"

"Uh, well...I just wanted to see how you were adjusting to life here."

"It's whatever, Groose is an idiot, though, an idiot with muscles, unfortunately and he's pretty intimidating, but Zelda's pretty nice, I like her—well, I mean...come on, wipe that smirk off!" Link demanded, his face reddening.

"Well, you're the one who said it!" Saria laughed.

"Ha, sure...what about you, though, you like someone here, don't you?" Link teased.

"No, not really, not that I dislike anyone here...I do see Karane as a friend, though...I didn't do very well, last night, but she convinced me to not give up just yet...I think I see—never mind, I think she's inspired, is all, it's like some of the students are very encouraging, though, and gives her a way to help me."

"Ha, I guess Karane's my friend, too, then."

"Oh? I could introduce you, if you like." Saria said, before a wicked grin burst on her face, "Then you can introduce me to Zelly!"

"What?! H-hey...I never called her that!" Saria snickered as her insinuation was objected, "If you call her that then I take it you're close now anyways, so no intro needed!"

"Hey, you two, sorry I'm late, peoples!" Pipit adjusted his cap and smiled, "You'll get your hat soon enough, Link, after you get a loftwing and become a knight, right now you're a student, so aspire to great things!"

"Thanks...Saria, you're staying, right?" Link asked, watching her turn the music back on.

"Huh? Yeah, I'm cheering you on from...over here!"

"Students," a tough looking man walked into the room from a side door and bowed, they returned the gesture, "my name is Eagus, I will be—Pipit, what are you doing here?"

"You're always on your lunch break at this hour, and this is the best time for me to find free time, I was going to help a new student out." Pipit explained.

"That's not your job, Pipit." Eagus was confused, Pipit usually just did his night job and his studies, everything else was studying and hanging out, running from girls and angry boyfriends, "Why are you going out of your way for—oh...never mind, it's good that you wish to help a new student, just...don't get too ahead of yourself."

"What?" Pipit's turn for confusion, "You don't mean to imply-"

"No, no, I'm just wondering if you have hopes it could work out."

"Will somebody please tell me what's going on?!" Link exclaimed, "So far it sounds you think Pipit likes me."

A crowd of students who'd just entered stared at the unfolding scene, "W-what? It does sound like that, doesn't it?" Eagus nodded his head, "I'm sure he's trying to help for all the right reasons."

"W-wait, Instructor Eagus-" Pipit began, a bright red blush in the face of a crowd spreading from ear to ear.

"Pipit, it's best to not lose your cool," Eagus pointed out, then tapped his head, "just try not to get ahead of yourself, he may potentially fill _that_ role, but until then, try not to be too eager."

Pipit froze where he stood and listened to the stifled snickers and avoid apologetic glances, "I know, already, you don't have to bring it up a thousand times a day!"

"Well, I'll just be going...we can probably train later." Link said, running through the crowd with his best friend in tow.

* * *

"Saria, is Pipit...does he—from what you can tell, I mean...I just got here," Link didn't know how his life here would go, but he hadn't foreseen a possibility like this one, "there's just...was the instructor talking about—I just got here! Don't tell me-"

"Calm down, Pipit can get pretty excitable-" Saria remembered last night's battle and was about to continue in a reassuring manner, but Link interrupted.

"I'm just going to have to tell him how it is." Link said, brows furrowed, "I never thought the first person I'd turn down would be a guy, though."

"Wait, wait, let's not say anything too quickly, though, alright?" Saria said, hoping to not have to tell Link about the secret excursions that the Persona-users would make at night, "Look...we think you could join the group, but these kinds of things aren't openly discussed."

"Huh...did this happen for you?" Link asked, wondering if that meant no one would stare at him and Pipit if they met again.

"Well, kind of, but it happened at the Lumpy Pumpkin, Zelda discussed it in a very efficient manner and then left after ordering a pumpkin soup."

"When was this?"

"My...second or third day here."

"Maybe they'll see me, next...what is the criteria?"

"Well, if you can, uh, hit the target...it's complicated, and I probably shouldn't speak so freely of it now, or I may speak it again...I don't know, I don't want to make their job harder." Saria looked up guiltily, "Sorry, I hate keeping this from you."

"I understand, it would compromise and undermine, can't have that...I hope one day we can talk about it though."

"Hey, Link?" Saria grinned evilly, "Who's that over there, want to introduce me to her?"

"What? Isn't Zelda on the team you joined?"

"N-V-M that, let's go!" Saria gestured for him to follow and he sighed softly, "Come on, you're not hungry again, are you?"

"No, I'm fine-"

"Then stop wasting time! Look, she's spotted us." Saria pointed out, and indicated that he should lead the way.

Link laughed a little, it was an amusing distraction and he was grateful for it, but his mind had started wandering back to Aryll and her grandmother...not his grandmother, not his sister. It confused him, had he no reason to say their titles as _his_ , and not just people who weren't? If he had a reason to stay around them, to share in their pain, then hadn't he the right to say they were his, and he theirs? He bowed his head, he oughtn't have remembered why he thought of things as distractions. What happened in life was not his to even slightly alter, it was everyone else, and fate may let him kick something, to change something so slightly, for better or worse, that was his wish now.

"Hey, Link, Saria, what's going on?" Zelda greeted the two as they walked up to her, Link awkwardly in front.

"Uh, hey, Zelda," Link began, "so...I don't know why, but, Saria, this is Zelda, Zelda, this is Saria...I believe you've met."

"Yes, we have," Zelda's smile gave way to a chuckle and she shook her head, "is it safe to assume she's been teasing you?"

"Yeah, I guess you're the only one she knows to tease me about."

"Well, it's good to know you've got a friend here in Skyloft, I was afraid you showed up out of the blue."

"I—yeah." Link breathed out roughly and turned away.

"Link, what's-"

"I'd rather not talk about it...hey, my—hmm-"

"Link?"

"Aryll and her grandmother-" Link stared blankly ahead and blinked before closing his eyes.

"His sister and grandma are going to be staying a while." Saria watched Link as she spoke in his place.

"Oh...I...do they have anywhere to stay?" Zelda inquired, "They could stay in my room, there's enough space, I'll set it up right now, if you'd like."

"No, they have plans." Saria replied after Link remained silent, "Hey, Link, you want to hang out in the library or something?"

"No...I saw a music club, I guess I'll waste time there, maybe show them some new songs on my ocarina when they arrive."

"So, he plays the ocarina, like you?" Zelda asked, watching him leave.

"Yeah...I don't think I should go to club today."

"Same here, I have to get things ready for the festival coming up anyways."

"I'll help you."

"Thanks, with just two days of uninterrupted work, I don't have much to work with...these past nights have been rough."

"But there shouldn't be any problems, right?"

"Right, Pipit will still be on patrol, though, so we need to be ready to help him."

* * *

Link opened the door to the music club and found a solitary, red haired individual standing in the middle of the room, a pan flute in her hands. She slowly opened her eyes as the door opened, but waiting before addressing the other student.

"Who're you?" she asked, gold eyes now fully open.

"Link, I didn't mean to disturb you...I did expect others here, though."

"Then you should come back later, these aren't normal hours, I'm not a part of the club, but I like it here, it's peaceful and there's some songs you can learn here that you won't find online." she quickly walked up to him and when her hand move, he expected as slap, instead she held out her hand, "I'm Nabooru."

Link shook her hand and she went back to the middle of the room while he pulled out his ocarina, "Uh, so, what are you playing?"

"'The Ballad of the Wind Fish', you came in at the best part, so I didn't acknowledge you immediately," she lowered the flute to her side, "if you feel I ignored you, then I apologize, that was unintentional."

"Can I join you?"

"Ha, so you know it too, then?"

"No, but I play by ear, too, I can assign the tunes you play into notes, and memorize the notes."

"Oh, really? Assign this!" she said, playing for about ten seconds before looking back at him, and playing the same notes again, "Now, show me how much of that you got."

* * *

"I feel like my name's being called, sometimes, it's trapped in me, but I'm trapped in it, too." Saria said, painting a banner on her table, "Is that supposed to happen?"

"As far as I can tell, yes, that's how it was for me...my name was called and I woke up one night," Zelda said, painting a different banner, "to find my Persona floating above me after a particularly frightening dream."

"Oh, well...I guess there's a connection between fear and our power, huh?"

"Actually, you're right, our Personas help us to confront our fears, which isn't good for Pipit, since he has arachnophobia."

"Oh, wow...that must be difficult."

"Fortunately, if not ironically, his Persona's power is to resist the fear of anything that exists." Zelda laughed, "And he has a special power called "Spider's Bane", which, as you can imagine, lowers the...uh, defense of spiders."

"Ha, ha, that is pretty funny." Saria laughed, wondering what such a power would be used for.

Zelda set her brush down as she continued to laugh, "The best part is, they're—they're...not even shadows, they're just spiders!"

"Wow, he can be unafraid of absolutely anything?!"

"Absolutely," Zelda said, calming down, "but he's only resistant to it, but he shouldn't fall into a panic during battle, our Personas have a sort of fail safe to keep us from being mentally exhausted or passing out, if we fall into a panic, they will lock themselves down, but Pipit's...is special, in his case fear is the worst enemy, even though he doesn't show it, Achilles' only weakness is his greatest strength, if Pipit falls into a panic...well, he rushed a bunch of keese once when they got too close to home, uh, it was hard to look at the trees in the area, people naturally assumed it to be wind damage, no one corrected the notion, and it's been stuck ever since, and when Pipit was too tired to go to school, everyone thought it was because the trees were near his home and he was worried about his mom."

"Oh...what do you think mine will be like?"

"I don't know, your weakness will be it's primary focus on defense, so you can probably take a guess."

"But, I'm still new to this...do you have any thoughts?"

"Uh...I think it'll probably have high endurance, to keep you alive longer."

"Endurance...oh, because of that incident, huh? I have pretty low emotional endurance, so my Persona will make up for it."

"Yes...that's my guess, though, you actually seemed more concerned that you wouldn't be able to help though, so my second guess would be high power, to ensure that your strength is never a concern, in this instance, your greatest strength will be personified."

"I thought you said the weakness was the one intensified."

"Well, being strong is your weakness, if you push yourself to fight for us in battle you could get hurt, I know I did, the first battle my father and the team of Persona-users of his day went out to help me grow stronger, and I got carried away trying to take down all the enemies, I forgot about myself, you seem even more likely to do that, making your powerful will to fight a dangerous presence for you."

"I don't know...maybe one day I'll figure it out, how to be the best me I can."

"That's actually a very good goal, my dad said...well, never mind, I don't want to get anyone's hopes up about a myth...a credible myth, but one nonetheless!"

"Oh...will our Personas get more power?"

"Yes...as you grow, so too will it. Like a shoe that grows with your feet, but it also draws off your energy, making walking twice as difficult as it would be otherwise...walking being my analogy for fighting shadows."

"I don't want to be weak, though, Pipit has a better weakness than me, and I bet you guys do, too."

"No...do you want to know my weakness? I'll tell you my strength, and you can tell me." Zelda took a deep breath, "My strength is high defense."

"You're...afraid of being weak?"

"Correct, I'm also afraid I'm not good enough, I can put on a disguise to prevent myself from being scared by this, I, in effect, create a perfect role model for myself, Benzaiten, wise and steadfast, with the knowledge to control the battle, I am filled with a calm that can't be described, except for when there's danger, I could easily panic if I'm not careful, so I can't use a lot of magic if that happens, but the upside is that I have a lot more damage to deal out if I keep my cool."

"The way you describe yours makes you seem even more awesome than you were."

"This from an outside observer...one day you, too, will look very cool to a new member of our group." Zelda watched as Saria smiled, then noticed a Pipit walk into the room.

"Has anyone seen Link?" he asked, checking his watch, "We should have the sparring hall to ourselves for a while."

"He said he was going to the music club." Zelda informed.

"Which is there." Pipit pointing in several different directions.

"I'll take you to him."

* * *

When they found Link, he was lively playing his ocarina, tap dancing while Nabooru clapped in time with him.

"Well, someone's spirits are out of the gray." Pipit commented.

"I don't know what came over him, one second he was dreary, the next he was asking to join me," Nabooru said, gesturing at the smiling ocarina player, "he's got some serious talent, though. Well, you know where to find me for a jam session."

"Leaving?" Link asked, and she turned to meet his gaze.

"Your friends seem to be here for you, not me."

"Actually, ma'am, we're here because the sparring hall is empty," Pipit said, "so I'll be taking him for practice now."

"I had something else to do, anyway." Nabooru said as she noticed Saria in the hall, "What's she doing here?"

"That's a friend." Zelda replied, "She must have followed me when I went to bring Pipit here."

"You didn't have to mention that." Pipit muttered, mildly embarrassed.

"Oh, so you didn't know how to get here?" Nabooru inquired, "I gathered that from the way you reacted, from what your brunette friend said, one could assume that you either didn't know how to get here, or she wanted to tell you that she found your blonde friend here. I pride myself into not jumping to conclusions until I have enough to go off of."

"Well, get in here, green girl, no need to be shy." Nabooru saw that Saria sheepishly hid a poster of some sort behind her back, "Well, I won't pry, in any ca-"

"D-y-you're something of a celebrity to me," Saria blurted, "so I was hoping you...it sounds so stupid, but, um, an auto—uh-"

"I don't have a pen on me now," Nabooru smiled, friendly, "but I'll meet you at the lunchroom later for dinner, I'll have to tell my friends though, since my group eats a little later."

"Uh...no, no, it's fine," Saria shook her as she fumbled with words, "uh, you have an arrangement, I don't want to mess up you plans for later."

"Ha, they're my friends, they'll understand if I'm meeting with a musical admirer."

"Uh, you sure? I can't imagine how busy you'd be if all your fans asked for a signing."

"I'd schedule a day and meet them then, fortunately the Indigo-Gos are much more popular, so they'll take some attention away from me on the festival, since they have a live performance right after my piece."

"You'll be at the Festival of Time performing?"

"Yep, ten hundred hours at the clock tower, then again as the time runs down to midnight."

"What song will you be playing?"

"That's a secret to everybody, my friend."

"Wow, I'm so excited, I bet you came here to rehearse it, huh?"

"Not really, I will instead work on more complex, better known songs, like the 'Ballad of the Wind Fish', and then play the very much simpler, but appropriate, song."

"Oh, right, it's a secret to everyone, got it."

"Well, kid, I'll see you later then, dinnertime, remember that." Nabooru waved at the group and left, "I'll see you guys around."

"Bye." Saria waved, then glanced at the paper in her hand, "Didn't anyone else here notice who she was? That was so cool."

"I don't know about many Gerudo singers," Zelda admitted, "but she was pretty cool about meeting you. To be honest, I really don't know much about many musicians, I'm...otherwise occupied."

"With what?" Saria wondered aloud.

"She has special training." Karane said from the hall, "As in, right now."

"Thanks, Karane," Zelda turned back to the group, "you can handle the preparations alone, right, Saria?"

"Actually, I was hoping she could help, it works better if the whole team can help you out, so I'll show her through the basics," Karane waved Saria over and pointed at Pipit, "we have a group meeting later, after dinner."

"B-but I'm meeting someone at dinner, tonight." Saria remarked, following the other two.

"Well...I suppose I can postpone for your date." Karane said, imagining wanting to talk to Pipit just to find out they'd have to cancel for a meeting, "But try to hurry, alright?"

"Uh, Nabooru isn't a date, she's a musician, she sings and plays the pan flute, she has a channel on WeSee, there's a whole Citipedia page about her."

"Just because someone threw together a Citi page about her doesn't mean it's true."

"Well, I know that, but a lot of it's from WeSee Q&As."

"Oh, well, who's she dating?"

"No one that the Citi knows about, she tries to keep her videos centered on what she does on WeSee, and not so much about her personal life."

"She uploads regularly?"

"Kind of, she usually tries to upload on Saturdays or holidays, and some of her stuff is tutorials."

"Sounds interesting."

"Hmm, you're going to watch some stuff by her?"

"Yeah, I've got next to nothing to do these days, and Link seemed to be having a good time." Karane suddenly had an idea and gasped at the genius of it, "Does she take suggestions from the audience, not about songs, just in general, like...content, maybe?"

"Uh, I guess, she talks to the people in the comments when she can, and I think once she said something about someone's suggestion. Her user name is 'GerudoRose', simple but elegant, no?"

"Gerudo rose?"

"Yep, spelled altogether."

"Alright, I'll keep that in mind."

* * *

"So, Link, pick your weapon." Pipit pointed at a weapon rack where Link saw a sword and a shield, he removed the shield and fastened it to his left arm, then took up the sword, "Ah, the sword and shield, a nice, balanced weapon, you know, that actually ties for my favorite weapon."

"What's your other favorite weapon?" Link asked, arching his eyebrow.

"I don't know, how many weapons are there?"

"Wait—all of them?!"

"Yep, I mastered every weapon in the school! As a result, I can use whatever weapon I'm left with, I can't surpass Master Rusl, though...truly his is the ultimate skill with a blade, none can best him in battle, try as they might." Pipit sighed and shook his head, "He's also better than Master Eagus, who has taken up every weapon and practiced for years, unable to tie with Rusl in a sword fight, he's still my superior in every respect, but I am getting better, maybe on my thirtieth birthday I'll finally surpass Rusl, though by that time it would be an unfair fight for him."

"What...I-I can do that, too! Just let me get the basics of this down and I'll be your rival!"

"Really, you mean that? You know, I'd hug you, but someone could walk in at any moment and get the wrong idea."

"Uh, that's fine, just show me how to fight with this thing."

* * *

"Ah, direct, I like that! No...not like that...see, you had to go and make things awkward, didn't you?" Pipit pointed at a log in the middle of the room, "Just go and chop that log clean in two, from the top down...just cut across the red line."

"So, what's this special training?" Saria inquired as the other two sat down in Zelda's room.

"She forecasts when the next Shadow Storm will be, she's extremely accurate, getting it wrong only when she has to predict outside a ten day forecast, and only very rarely." Karane replied, "Now, the presence of shadows can be detected by anyone attuned to them, but Zelda has a bit of a broader range of vision, she can sense almost anything, but her Persona can only focus on so much at a time, defense, offense, skills, Shadows, after a while she became our strategist during battle, ordering us to follow her if she sensed other Shadows too close."

"Shadows...those things I couldn't hit."

"Exactly, you saw what they could do firsthand, imagine if more enemies had been coming from behind us, she would have maneuvered us so that the enemies would meet in front of us in a single swarm, instead of from two sides, she would have done that by having us disengage, though if you had been captured, she probably would have had me attack if the enemy was weak to pierce attacks, or Pipit if it was weak to all cut attacks."

"So what are we doing?" Saria asked.

"Good question, Zelda?" Karane turned to their leader, who leaned back and crossed her legs as she began to explain.

"What you have to do is help me train my Persona's focus, the more I use my Persona's detection ability, the stronger it becomes, this is a routine to keep my powers in top condition." Zelda explained, "The exercises include flash cards and blindfolded games like chess and having her choose the position of the cup under which lays a marble from a triangle of twelve cups, as well as telling whoever's assisting me how many books they have and their colors. Any questions?"

"Yeah...where do you get all the cups for that?" Saria looked between the two, who shrugged.

"Dad worries about supply details." Zelda answered.

"And he is?"

"Someone important to the school...the Headmaster."

"Oh...Zelda Kaebora?"

"That's my name...for this reason, I'm often treated differently than the others, but I'd prefer if you just thought of me as your friend, Zelda."

"I...I'm very honored."

"But you shouldn't be...I'm no one special, not in my own right." Zelda laughed, "Maybe that's why Benzaiten has these powers, to put her apart from the others, to be able to see the battlefield, not just because of what I want for my team, to protect it, but also because she wanted to be different as well. I guess I faced that fear so long ago and I understood it subconsciously, my cry for help was for a particular power to emerge, and so I have this power. I can see a lot of things, not everything, shadows are easiest to see, but I can tell when someone or something I don't like is near...it's harder to tell when something I do like is near, though, but my Persona is trying to keep me safe, maybe that's why I have those limits, she does the best she can, I have to too."

"And I will, too. So, how do we start?"

"Today I've asked Karane if we could try something new, she has the blindfold, but I have to guess who's putting it on me." Zelda said, "So both of you will stand behind the couch, and one of you will tie it to me."

"But won't you be able to recognize Karane's way?"

"I should, especially given our proximity, this is my test for myself, I can only pick one...but I'm calm, if I lose my cool, my Persona can't focus, she already has poor focus as it is."

"Alright, Karane, let's do this." the two walked around the couch, Saria held out her hand, and Karane gave her the blindfold, "Can you tell between her and Pipit?"

"I've never tried this before, but if I'm right...you're the one with the blindfold, aren't you?"

"How can you tell?"

"Because...my Persona can see you. This one time I got it right, next time we should have more people in the room, I may simply be confident because there's only two people in the room to choose from."

"Well, if you've got this under control, I'll be going!" Karane said, nodding to Saria before leaving the room, then briefly appeared in the doorway again, "Uh, good luck with the last part of this, you'll need it."

"Huh...what?" Saria looked up from the chess board, "But this seems like it'd be so fun."

"You're move, Saria." Zelda informed as the forest girl slid the board across the floor and in front of Zelda, "Oh, my earbuds, I almost forgot."

"Is it to soothe you heighten your senses, inspire you, perhaps?"

"It's supposed to unnerve me, make it hard to focus with an eerie tune."

"O-oh...if you think it's because I'm not good, then don't, I'm an excellent chess player, I beat the computer all the time on medium difficulty!"

"Nope, just standard procedure, the harder it is to focus, the stronger my Persona _should_ , in theory, become. But since you're so good at this, I'll probably lose a couple of times...the eerie sounds make it difficult to 'see' the board, so I have to look around a lot before deciding, which takes up time. Let's try to wrap this up in ten minutes!"

* * *

"Vertical slash!" Pipit yelled, and Link cut across the diagonal red line, instead of what Pipit said, "Good job, you need to be able to focus, great focus. But next, we'll have you ignore my instructions, _unless_ I say that there's one behind you, in which case you turn and focus on what you need to do."

"Yelling frantic instructions...was that necessary? 'Left diagonal, right, no, stab!'" Link waved his arms for emphasis and Pipit gave him a small smile.

"Maybe I just like pranking people?" Pipit joked, "Nah, it's all part of the exercise, you have to be focused, and hear the orders while also doing what you know you have to."

"Well, as long as you have an excuse for it." Link smiled, happy with his progress.

"It is, now get ready!" Pipit watched Link, then pulled a lever, "V.L.!"

Link turned and swung left, then cut some others that fell in front of him until he was called to stab, and turned to impale the log. This, he decided, would be a long day of training.

 **Author's Notes: Alright, that's it for this day, onto the next one!**

 **Next chapter a new element to the story will be added, one that you probably anticipated. I'm getting so excited!**

 **Also, this technically is the first day Link spent actually _there_ instead of like last time, so this helps keep up with things!**


End file.
